David's First Concert

David finally made it to his first concert since he got his teaching degree!  The kids in Kayenta weren't quite ready to perform a concert, but the kids at this middle school are doing very well.  David was very stressed out before the concert, trying to get it all the kids ready, the stage set up, and making sure all the kids show up on the right day and wearing the right clothes!

I was a little worried about how I was going to get to the concert.  We don't have a second car and David's school is about a half hour drive away.  Luckily, Brittany was nice enough to babysit and let me borrow her car so I could make it to the concert myself.  I got there right before the concert started.  Everything went really smooth and I was impressed by how well David handled everything.  There was a lot of stage changes and 6 different groups that performed.  I had one of the assistant principals come up to me and tell me how much they enjoy having David at their school.  It's been a tough year for us so I was glad that this night was such a success!

One of David's orchestra's.  He has 2 orchestras, 2 bands, and 2 choirs that he is in charge of.

 

Here is David's older choir.  I was so impressed that someone who has never sang in choir has done so well.  Good job David!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is here and gone!  David's sister was hosting dinner in Missouri, but since we are a little short on funds, we couldn't afford to make the drive.  We really wanted to because it's been so long since we've seen his family!  But it just wasn't in the stars.  So we decided to drive up to Idaho and celebrate with my family.  It was a lot of fun, but I only took one picture the whole trip!  So I'll just briefly write how the trip went.  

We drove up on Tuesday night because we heard there was going to be a big storm that would make driving a little dangerous.  Once we pulled in, Asher and Millie both got very excited!  Asher loves going to Grandma's house and playing with her cool toys and getting to eat whatever he wants and Millie loves how much land they have that she can run around.  On Wednesday, Lisa and Joni brought their munchkins over and we had a very crazy play date with 5 kids 3 and under.  Asher had a blast!  He was really tired from all the traveling, but he loves having someone besides Mom to play with.  I tried putting him down for a nap 3 different times, but he was so excited about the people that were there that he never slept.  We were going to have a movie at Joni's house for the kids, but Asher fell asleep on the couch right as I was about to put his coat on to leave.  I felt too bad to wake him up, so I was just going to stay at my mom's.  But my mom and sisters felt so bad that they brought the party to us!  So we watched Inside Out (it was the first time I'd seen it and I loved it!) and Asher got lots and lots of cousin time! 

Thanksgiving started out a little weird.  Lisa and her husband got very sick so my mom drove over to their house to pick up their 2 kids and bring them home so they could get some rest (one reason I miss having my mom close by).  Asher and I went to Wal-Mart to get some Oreo's for my mom's place settings.  And the boys in the house slept a lot.  Eventually, Joni and her clan made it over and things got very loud and crazy!  Lisa was able to make it out just in time for dinner, and we all enjoyed a great meal and good company!  After dinner, my mom taught my sisters and I how to make origami stars.  It was really fun learning something new and doing crafts!  That's another thing I miss about living in Idaho, we used to do crafts a lot together and my mom was always teaching us stuff like how to knit and crochet and not ruin whatever we were sewing.  I still have my stars and am hoping to figure out how to turn them into ornaments!

David and I were planning on leaving Friday at some point, but at 5am, Asher started throwing up.  And every half hour after that until about 11am.  He was in a really good mood, but I always had to be ready with my bucket to catch.  And then about 6, I got sick.  And I was sick all day.  And my brother Andy could hardly get out of bed and had my mom bring him a bucket.  We were pretty pathetic.  David started feeling a little nauseous later that night, but never threw up.  So, needless to say we did not make it home that day.  David was a really good sport about watching Asher while I was laying on the bathroom floor and my mom was very nice to help us all with our various ailments!  She even rented a movie that we could watch that night!

On Saturday, we all felt well enough to make the drive.  We were all very tired and sore, but we managed to make it without any accidents!  Of course, since my immune system was down because of the flu, the cold that I had been fighting off managed to slip through and now all three of us have an awesome chest cold.  Being sick is not fun.  But we're all hopefully getting over it and will be better in time to get whatever else is going around!

My sister got mad at me that I didn't include any pictures in my last post, so I have a few pictures I've taken the last few months.  I haven't taken many pictures, so I guess I need to get on that!  Enjoy!

I'm so proud of the hat I made Asher!  He always tries to take it off, but I think it's super cute.

Asher's favorite thing to do when David gets home is to crawl up on his lap when he's on the computer and have David turn on a video.  David then promptly falls asleep.

And again.

Asher pulls these blocks out all the time.  He loves playing with them and putting them in his dump truck!

He managed to put every block down his shirt.  I was impressed.

Asher gets VERY upset when we put Millie in the kennel.

Asher loves putting his feet on people.  And sitting on people.  It makes laying down to watch TV....uncomfortable.

This is my one picture from Thanksgiving.  I brought the giraffe for Isaac, he loved it!

2 Year Checkup

Asher was finally able to get his 2 year checkup yesterday.  It's been a long wait since he turned 2 in August!  We couldn't do it in August because 1) we were just about to move (again...) and 2) because we had no insurance.  And after David started his job here we had a 2 month waiting period before we could use the insurance.  David and I were discussing that it is abnormal for all three of us to have insurance at the same time, let alone on the same network!  It's a sad thought, but hopefully we're past that phase of life now!

Everything checked out great.  Asher is doing great.  And my favorite part is finding out how big he is.  For weight we managed to make it all the way up to 55th percentile!  Usually he's sitting at about 20th.  For height he is......99th percentile!  He's always been way tall.  Everyone always adds on about a year when they guess how old he is. 

One thing I brought up with the doctor was Asher's speech.  For those people that have a lot of interaction with Asher, you know that he loves to jabber!  But he hasn't learned a lot of actual words.  The doctor had me guess how many words he knew.  I guessed he has said about 50 words, but only uses about 25 regularly.  Apparently that's the minimum requirement for 2 year olds (to know 25 words and can say 2 word phrases), but he said if in 3 months Asher hasn't made any progress to look into a program where they will come evaluate your child for free in your home and see if he needs speech therapy.  My sister had her son go through a similar program in Idaho, and I've heard of other parents that have had children in it, but it's very hard to think of your own child going through it.  You don't want your child to go through hard things!  I know it will all work out, but it keeps me up at night worrying about if other kids will start to make fun of him or that other problems will come up.  I know it will be fine.  But if can keep Asher in your prayers, it would help things even more! 

Asher is such a goofy, energetic little boy!  He always seems to know just where my breaking point is because he'll be crazy and destroy everything, and then come and give me a hug or come pet my head.  It makes me laugh every time, no matter how upset I am!  He's a great little buddy and I'm very glad he chose to come to us!

Halloween

As some of you know, David isn't a huge fan of Halloween.  I didn't used to be, but I feel like I have to put more of an effort into holidays for Asher's sake!  I talked about this with the girl that cut my hair.  We both never would dress up or make a big deal out of holidays, but once kids come along it makes it more exciting and you feel like it's your duty to make holidays great!  Since I didn't just want to sit in our apartment doing nothing that weekend, I decided to head up to Idaho so Asher could enjoy some time with his Mitchell cousins and grandparents.  We had such a good time!  I was very proud of Asher's outfit and was glad to show it off.  Both of my sisters did very well with their costumes as well and we were quite the spectacle wherever we went!  It is a lot colder there than it is in Utah, so we froze a little (especially on that first day!) but it was all worth it.  Here are some pictures of our weekend!

The first day we were there it was VERY windy and cold!  No one could see our costumes because of the coats and we couldn't wear our ears because the wind kept blowing them off!

Asher was very confused all during Halloween.  He couldn't understand why he (and everyone else) was dressed so weird!

Asher's favorite part of the festival!  He was so sad when we had to get off!

With the Rexburg cousins and a very grumpy Tinkerbell!

One of the Ewoks was melting a little...

London is normally so happy and smiley, so it was very comical to see her have a little tantrum!

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

With the new Star Wars movie coming out there was a lot of Star Wars themed stuff around.  It fit in nicely with Lisa's family!  Han Solo, Leia, and the Ewoks!

Mickey and Minnie!  We had so much fun!

That night we all went to Lisa's house to watch a movie, eat pizza, and see all the cute trick-or-treaters.  Lisa was very busy answering the door, and Asher decided he needed to help her.  Every time someone would come to the door, he would help her answer, look at the people on the porch, and when they took a candy he would take one too!  Then he would take it downstairs to Grandma so she could unwrap it for him because he knew Mama would limit the number of candies he could have.  I guess that's the great thing about Grandmas!  On Sunday we went to church with Joni (where I'm sure anyone sitting around us got nothing out of Sacrament Meeting with Asher, London, and Ledger being the squirmy toddlers they are!) and headed back home.  I think it all worked out well.  David got a quiet, relaxing weeked and Asher and I got to dress up, attend a fun festival, and eat lots of candy!

My (not technically a) baby turns 2!

Well, my little baby isn't so much of a baby anymore!  On August 5th, he turned 2 and hit those terrible two's in good stride!  This post will mainly be a hodge-podge of our life the last few weeks, but first I'll tell you a little bit about my funny, quirky, emotional little dude!

• He doesn't say too many words, but the ones he does know he says with enthusiasm!  The phrases we hear most often are "Oh boy!" (when he sees something he really wants), "There you go", "Thank you", "Go, go, go!", and "Bye Dad" (he always says Dad, even when he's saying goodbye to the park while we're leaving.  It's because he learned to say bye when saying goodnight to David or when David is leaving to go to work).  
• Although he doesn't say many coherent words, this boy loves to jabber. He will look at you right in the eye and tell you the most amazing story!  If you could understand what he was saying.  He LOVES talking on the phone!  I can always tell when he's calling someone on my phone (which he is great at doing) because he'll put the phone up to his ear and start walking all around the house, exactly what David does when he talks on the phone!  It's so cute to watch.  So if you get a random call from me that leaves no voicemail or all you hear on the other end is a little boy breathing, it's probably because he stole my phone!
• Asher loves his books.  A few times a week I'll catch him in his room "reading" books out loud to himself.  It makes his bookworm mother very happy!
• Asher does not love to sit still.  It doesn't matter if it's in church, story time, or anywhere else, he gets very cranky if I try to make him sit.  Which makes church very exhausting.  I don't let him run around in the halls, I bring a million things to keep him occupied, and 5 different types of snacks, but he just isn't happy until we leave to go to nursery.  
• Nursery has been a challenge for us.  He's been in 4 different nurseries this year and we've moved 3 times so when I try to drop him off I think he thinks I'm leaving him there forever and acts so traumatized that I would even consider leaving him there.  But last week we had a breakthrough and he spent the last hour in nursery all by himself!  It's a step in the right direction.  A small step, but a step nonetheless!
• He hates hates hates looking for apartments!  We figured that out in Nevada and it got worse looking for places in Utah.  But we did find a place so no more looking for awhile!  The guy helping us find a place got to see a lot of Asher's tantrums.  But, as I've realized, you can always spot someone who has kids by how they see a tantrum.  He definitely had kids because he just looked at Asher and then looked at us with sympathy in his eyes.  He said he had a son that was the same way.  I feel a connection to people that have kids because they understand the struggle!
• I used to think that Asher could go professional with his tantrums, but he's really perfected it to the point where I think he could win gold at the Olympics!  When he is upset, he does not try to hide it.  This boy can scream and flail and kick like nobody's business!  When I feel that people are judging me, I wish they understood what upheaval this little boy has been through with our moving situation(s) and then they would understand a little more.  To move from your home once is traumatic, but doing it again and again is so much worse!  I'm glad we found a place we can settle down for a few years.
• I feel like the term emotional has a negative connotation, but I can't think of another way to describe Asher.  He really is just so full of emotion!  He's either super happy or in the pit of despair or starving to death or exhausted, there's not a whole lot of middle ground.  And he is always on the move and so active.  I know it will be good for him to have that much energy if he can focus it into a career or church or family, but for right now it's a little tiring for me.  But all he has to do is give me that adorable dimpled grin and then I'm happy again!
• This boy loves animals.  Dogs, cats, birds, you name it.
• His favorite way to exercise is jumping.  He's getting really good at it too!  I told Brian and Brittany that Asher is the reason we wanted a bottom floor place.  They agreed that was pretty smart of us.
• He is very clumsy.  That he got from me.  He is always tripping or running in to things or falling.  But because of that he's actually pretty tough when it comes to that kind of stuff!  While we were at my parents house he got stung many times by wasps.  He cried while it was happening, but once he got in the house, he acted like it never even happened!  He's always falling on his face and just gets up with a grin and keeps on going!  I try not to think about how many broken bones I'm going to have to deal with later...

All in all, Asher is pretty fantastic and I love him so much!  We love you buddy and are so glad you're in our family!

2nd Birthday!

We went to the playground by the library, the best one we found in Mesquite.

Presents!

Millie really wanted to be in the middle of all the action.

I made the mistake of letting him open his Thomas Train first...he had zero interest in his other presents after that!

Cake time!  It made me sad to put 2 candles on instead of 1.

At my parents house in Rexburg.  My mom set up her little pool and the boys had tons of fun in that freezing cold water!

Ledger was trying to "help" aka push Asher out of the floaty.

It was sooooo cold, but Asher loved playing in the pool!

Isaac got so big!  He is such a cutie!

David meeting Hunter for the first time.

These three boys are such hooligans, but such good friends!

Birthday party number 2!  Asher got some more amazing presents!

More cars!  Because when you have little boys, you can never have enough cars.

Ledger really wanted to help Asher enjoy his presents.

Bubbles!  Asher loves these.

 

Trucks!

 

The cake Grandpa bought was a little more impressive than Mom and Dad's cake.

We went back to Nevada to pack for a few days.  We left Millie with Brian and Brittany.  Millie and Chewy are best buds.

In the car.  Again.  My mom joked around that Asher probably thinks the car is his new home.  That made me a little depressed.

Asher kept poking Millie's eyes, Millie kept drooling on Asher.  It was almost like have 2 kids.  I think this was going from Idaho to Utah.

Now we're staying with Brian and Brittany.  And Asher is testing the breakability of everything in their house.  And he also loves to put that bowl on his head.

And that brings us to yesterday!  Judy drove Joy clear across the country to take her to school and, of course, to come see us!  Asher ran right up to Judy and wanted to cuddle with her.  He loves his Grandma!  He didn't remember Joy as much, but by the end of the night he had warmed up to her pretty well.  It's so great having family close by!  Now I just need my Idaho/Wyoming family around!

You Wouldn't Believe It

I can hardly believe what has happened in the last 10 days.  But I'll do my best to relate all the feelings and goings-on with our family.  Last Monday (August 3rd), David got a call from the school district he student taught with in Utah.  They had an opening at a middle school and he was highly recommended to the principal there.  To be honest, I started crying right then because we had only been in Mesquite about 3 weeks and it was a much better job fit for David, I really wished that call would've came a month earlier!  Well, David hadn't signed his contract in Mesquite, and we thought it couldn't hurt to go to Utah to talk to the principal, especially since we were headed that way anyways.  Once we got to the middle school, it was apparent almost immediately that this job was going to be so much better than the one in Mesquite, so after a lot of discussion, David accepted the job!  It's at Joel P. Jensen Middle School in West Jordan.  He'll be teaching band, choir, and orchestra.  We also spent a lot of time looking at apartments and quickly realized that housing in the Salt Lake area is much more expensive than anywhere else we've lived.  And it was brought to our attention that buying a house/condo/residence is actually cheaper than renting.  So we're also looking to buy!  In the mean-time, David's brother has offered to let us stay with them until we finish that whole process, which is very generous.  On Tuesday, August 11, we came back to Mesquite to try and pack up our essentials because we have to be back in Utah on Friday, the 14th, to meet with people and then David starts work on Monday, August 17th!  Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we had 2 birthday parties for Asher (which I will do another post with a lot of cute pictures!). 

So, to say the least, we are both at our wits end trying to get our life together.  I usually hit a "wall" when it comes to packing.  The faster we have to move, the earlier I hit it because all the stress really takes its toll.  Today, I hit it hard.  I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I really just shut down.  David was really great in helping me through it, but all this stress really won't go away until we're at least a little bit settled down.  I'm starting to worry about the toll it's taking on Asher.  I've noticed he's getting a lot more clingy to David and I.  It's almost like if we're not in the room he's worried he's been abandoned.  I hope every day that he won't remember all this.  I know children are very resilient, but I still feel bad.  But I do think the job in Utah will be much more permanent than our lives so far. 

Ever since I was in college I was in the habit of trying to figure out why I was put in whatever situation I was in.  I try to see God's purpose for me and what was accomplished by my being there.  I've been thinking about that a lot lately.  Why did we have to go to Kayenta?  Why couldn't this job offer come a month ago before we moved to Mesquite?  Was it for us, or for someone else's benefit?  Moving to Kayenta, it didn't take long for me to realize why we were there.  The first week at church I had multiple people come up to me saying that they were praying for someone who could play piano and lead music would come to the ward.  The Primary President was also the Sacrament meeting pianist and she led and played the piano in Primary for singing time.  And when we moved in she was about 6 months pregnant and was very worried about what would happen when she had her baby.  I came just in time to help relieve her stress about that and take over until she had her baby and until a missionary could come into the ward who could play piano.  It was very hard for our family, but in the end I was glad I could help serve.  Also, we were able to save a lot of money and get caught up on a lot of bills that had stacked up while David was doing his student teaching.

While in Mesquite, I think I have learned to try and make friends more easily.  We were only in the ward about 3 weeks, but I already made a couple of friends (which, if you knew me, you would realize what a miracle that is because of how reserved and introverted I am).  Also, last week while I was in nursery with Asher (he refuses to go alone-another thing that has me a little concerned), a mother dropped her daughter off because this daughter was another child who had apprehensions about nursery, and out of everyone in the room, I was the only one that could console her and keep her happy while her mom went to Relief Society.  The nursery leader thanked me and all I could think was "I know how it feels to have a kid that has a hard time with this".  Maybe there was something else I was supposed to learn here, but I know that when I get to go to Relief Society and just enjoy sitting there listening to the lesson, it is extremely rejuvenating, and I wanted to let someone else have that opportunity!

In both Mesquite and Kayenta, I have become accustomed to being a minority (in Kayenta it was 95% Native American, and in Mesquite at our apartment complex it is mostly Hispanic).  That's let me see a different perspective and, I think, helped me grow to be a more compassionate person.  I know throughout all our different moves, we have learned to be humble.  And we get to see the good in other people through their kindness towards us.  We wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for the kindness of families, ward members, and blessings from our Heavenly Father.  It's helped me appreciate what I have and makes me want to pass that kindness on to other people.

I don't know what living in Utah will bring, but I've learned that I just have to trust that things will work out.  That as long as we're doing what's right, we'll be ok.  This past year has been so hard.  I've hit many lows and wanted to give up.  But I didn't, and I'm very proud of myself for that!  Hopefully, from here on out, our general direction will be up!  After all, we made it this far, right? 

Mesquite

Well, we did it.  We made the move and are, for the most part, all settled in.  It was very stressful and hot and I'm glad it's all over.  Here are lots of pictures to commemorate our move!

Asher loves playing in moving trucks!  Unfortunately, it's not as fun trying to move stuff into the truck while he's playing in it.

Our last picture in Kayenta!  Our house was all cleaned out, Asher was already tired, and we had a whole day of moving in ahead of us.

Asher and I took our car and David and Millie took the moving truck.  We were all running on very little sleep so David and I were running on caffeine.  We tried calling the Elders Quorum ahead of time, but our phone service wasn't working in Kayenta, so my dad was very nice and called for us.  We got some help on a very hot day moving our heavy furniture up to our second floor apartment.  And after, they ordered a pizza to be delivered to us!  The people in our ward are very nice and we are so grateful for the help they've given us.

I don't pictures of our apartment yet.  I was going to try and get our pictures and decorations put up and our boxes put away first.  We'll see how soon that happens.  But here are a few pictures of what's around us.

This park is across the parking lot from our apartment, it's very nice to have it so close!  We go there every morning (before it gets too hot) so Asher and Millie can run around and be as noisy as they want.

This is the dog park that's a part of the park by us.  I take Millie here every night.  She loves being off the leash and being able to run around and play with other dogs!  She also makes friends with any other people that happen to be there.  She is the most friendly dog ever.  They have it separated into a big and small dog areas.  There's a man who is always in the small dog area when we get there and Millie will climb on top of the bench so she can stick her head over the fence to say hello to him!  This place and church is where I meet most of the people in this town.

While David and the guys from the ward were moving our stuff in, I was in charge of Asher and Millie.  They were both stuck in cars all day so when we got to the apartment they were both a little out of control.  Asher was crying and throwing tantrums because he was so tired and we had taken all his stuff and put them in a big truck and left his home (moving is so hard on him) and Millie wanted to run everywhere because there were so many new smells and things to investigate.  So I was going crazy trying to keep both of them out of the way of the movers.  Eventually I stuck both of them in the car so I could try to help coordinate things with moving things into the apartment.  I thought they would be fine because there wasn't anything they could break in the car, the car was on with the AC running in the shade, and they were contained.  After the moving was done, I went to get them out of the car.  And did my best not to get very, very mad.  

 

 

I forgot that I had left a permanent marker in the car that I had used to label boxes and Asher had found it and started drawing.  As angry as I was, I couldn't get too mad at Asher because it was the one point in the whole day where he was smiling because he thought it was so fun drawing!  We were planning on running this car into the ground anyways, so it's not like we're worried about it decreasing the value, but now I have to find a way to get it up so it doesn't make me depressed every time I look at it.  I think this move has been a catalyst for the "terrible twos".  

One exciting thing that happened is we got our dryer fixed!  We bought it used (for a very good price), but it broke a month after we got it.  And living in Kayenta, it would've cost a fortune to either pay for a repairman to come all the way out or to buy a new one.  So we air-dried our clothes for a good 6 months.  So I am very happy we don't have to always have clothes hanging from doors or chairs or our bed anymore!  But the day before the repairman came, Asher sprayed a bunch of water into the back of our TV and now the color is all distorted.  So when David gets his first paycheck we're going to try and get that fixed too.  The fact that Asher lived through the move without David or I sending him away, I think, says a lot about us as parents.  I think Asher was mad at us for making him move again.  

The weekend after we moved, Brian and Brittany came to visit!  When we were in Rexburg and Utah, I think I didn't appreciate having family close because I really miss it now.  So it makes me so happy when we have people come stay with us!  They stayed for 2 nights and came to church with us.  And Brittany was so nice to sit in nursery with Asher so David and I could both go to our meetings!  Asher's still adjusting to life in a normal ward where he's not the only child in nursery.  Any family that wants to come stay with us is more than welcome!  

I don't know what else to say at the moment, but there's a good start on our life now.  Here are lots of pictures of Asher!

Reason why my son is crying: I took him to the park.

Our AC went out one afternoon.  We roasted until they could come fix it!  And Asher got to spend all day being naked!  I wasn't complaining.  I like looking at his little chubby legs!

There's a volleyball sandpit in the park.  This is where Asher always goes.  And recently he has to take his big truck with him to play in the sand!

What a goof!

We didn't have a dishwasher in Kayenta, but we do here!  I love it!  And Asher thinks it's his new toy.

His new way of playing with his tricycle.

Grandma bought us the best toy!

When Asher gets really upset, he'll run away, lay on his back, then do this.  It's really weird and I'm not sure why he does it, but it makes me laugh!  He did this in nursery when he didn't want to sit in his chair.  The nursery leader looked very confused.

Asher has started covering his eyes when he wants to hide, it's very cute!  He mostly does it when David is playing with him and chasing him around.  He is such a funny kid!